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This was an up and down year for the Royal Rumble. There was a definite yin/yang feel to the event. You will notice several names appearing in both the Hit and Miss column. There was a lot to like about the PPV, but there was plenty to not like as well.

ROYAL RUMBLE HITS

Flair’s Emotion: I love it when we get to see wrestlers showing real emotion. When a wrestler wins a major title and gets emotional over it, it adds so much to the moment. Ric Flair showed so much emotion, before and after his match vs. MVP. That emotion underscored the finality of his current storyline. It also fit in perfectly with the location of the Rumble being Madison Square Garden. It helped make the show feel special.

Jericho’s Intensity: Chris Jericho turned the intensity up several notches in his match. It really was more of a brawl than a typical Jericho match. That isn’t to say that it was a total 100% brawl, but it was still very intense, particularly after Jericho started heavily bleeding. Clearly, the live fans responded well to his destruction of John Bradshaw Layfield after the match. That sounded like the best response he has gotten since his return. This should help get him further over with the fans, and advance his feud with JBL. This has a chance to be a great feud leading to a final pay off at WrestleMania.

Santino Marella: I am thrilled WWE gave Santino a chance to talk. I assumed going into the show that he would only have a brief appearance in the Rumble. I was surprised at his back stage confrontation with Ashley. It wasn’t great, but good. I would have been fine with getting to just see that, so I was thrilled that he came out later interrupting Ashley and Maria. If his first scene was good, not great, his second scene was phenomenal. I laughed so hard several times. His cheap heat is much funnier than 99% of the heels in the business. He was spot on in making fun of New York. The highlight was when he said the fans would cheer for anything, including if he asked them if they want hepatitis. There might not be a funnier line in 2008.

Hardy vs. Orton: This was a very good match. I would have liked it go another 5 minutes, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted. This was one of Jeff Hardy’s best performances in a regular one on one match. Most of the highlights of his career involve ladders, and it was good to see him pull off a very good match under these circumstances. The match had good back and forth action. It was an interesting mix of styles, with the methodical Randy Orton trying to ground and slow down the high energy Hardy. There was one very sloppy spot. That, along with the shorter than expected time (and the result) keeps this from being a great match. But, it was still a very good one.

Michaels and Undertaker: Now we get to the first of my Hits for the Royal Rumble match itself. The Shawn Michaels and Undertaker confrontation from last year’s Rumble was my favorite WWE moment of 2007. So, I was thrilled when they came out as #s 1 and 2 for this year’s Rumble. It was great to see both last for a long time in the match. They worked very well together, and had other great moments apart. Michaels had to set a record for the most times getting tossed over the top rope only to avoid elimination. Their work during the first 2/3 of the Rumble really elevated the quality of the match. I have been hoping for Michaels vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania and their interaction at the PPV gave a strong hint that it is a good possibility.

Hornwoggle’s Early Appearances: As a loyal Hornswoggle fan, I really enjoyed his entrance into (or should I say under?) the Royal Rumble. He plays his part so well. I loved when came out acting all tough like he was going to enter the ring and start throwing guys out left and right, only to then cower and get scared at the sight of the Undertaker. His elimination of the Miz was one of the highlights of the match. Until he left the ring with Finlay, he had been used very well to add some humor to the match.

Feuds Continued/Revisited: As always, the Rumble gave many wrestlers a chance to square off against current or recent adversaries. Undertaker and Batista had a great stare down to recall their 2007 Feud of the Year. Chuck Polumbo and Jamie Noble got to advance their feud when Noble attacked Polumbo early on. The Michaels and Mr. Kennedy feud got a boost when Kennedy eliminated Michaels. I’m assuming Michaels vs. Kennedy at No Way Out (after HBK helps Flair beat Kennedy on Raw). The top ECW feud was shown off as CM Punk and Chavo Guerrero went at it. Guerrero’s presence made no sense as he is the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, but his elimination of Punk will help their feud. We even got to see the continuation of a decades old feud when Jimmy Snuka squared off against Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Cena Surprise: John Cena as the 30th man in the Rumble was a huge surprise. WWE should be given a ton of credit for pulling that off. I can’t recall the last time I was that genuinely shocked while watching wrestling. The reaction the fans gave at first showed they were equally shocked. Triple H did a great job of acting surprised, which underscored the unpredictability of the moment. His surprise helped fuel my surprise. I have had several WrestleMania fantasy booking ideas running through my head, none of which involved Cena as I was convinced he would not be back by then.

Final Three: The ending of this year’s Rumble, when it came down to Batista, Cena and Triple H was very good. All three were legitimate contenders to win the match. The anticipation of the encounter between the three was well done. I enjoyed the triple hand gestures. The action between the three was solid. It felt like we were watching a big moment. Things really picked up when it came down to Cena vs. Triple H. The image of them standing with the WrestleMania XXIV sign in the background was outstanding. The action between the two wasn’t great, but it was good. It helped cap off what was a very good hour of wrestling.

ROYAL RUMBLE MISSES

Flair vs. MVP: The opening match was disappointing. It had some sloppiness. I hate to sound unappreciative of Flair’s career, but I am glad that he is retiring soon. He just can’t perform close to the level that he once did. This was probably the worst of his matches since the win or retire stipulation was made by Vince McMahon. It wasn’t all bad. There were some good moments throughout. But, it was sloppy. Also, the ending was very anticlimactic. MVP tapped out way too quickly. I was surprised that Flair won clean. This hurts MVP who has been the #2 heel on Smackdown. Flair could have at least used some classic dirty tricks to win.

Chair Shot: As much as I liked seeing the increased intensity from Chris Jericho, and as well executed as his chair shot out of nowhere on JBL was, it was still an unprotected chair shot to the head of a wrestler. It is just not needed. WWE has been better than TNA about these spots, but that doesn’t mean they should not be criticized when it happens. I could say “at least it was saved for a PPV match, instead of seeing it almost weekly on Impact” but I would rather say that they are not called for under any circumstances, whether it is a PPV or a free show.

Mike Adamle: What a terrible debut for the new announcer. He has some name recognition, but why introduce him at one of the biggest shows of the year? His attempt to hype the crowd in his first appearance was met with a deafening silence. Then, he butchered Jeff Hardy’s name, which was just sad.

Hardy Loses: The last month (more than a month really) was spent building up Jeff Hardy as a legit contender for the WWE Championship. That build, all of those great moments are now forgotten. This is not a case where a small vocal group of internet fans were pushing for Hardy to win. This was a case where the vast majority of WWE fans were hoping Hardy would win. His popularity probably helped to pop a very good buy rate for this PPV, but many of the fans who bought the event to see him win the title will not order No Way Out. This reminds me of what happened to Rob Van Dam when he was pushed as a top World Champion contender, then lost to Triple H and went back to the mid card for most of the rest of his career. I can only assume that is where Hardy goes, especially since Cena is back as the top babyface on Raw.

Sloppiness: The Royal Rumble was pretty clean. But, there was sloppiness in all of the four under card matches. I already mentioned how sloppiness hurt the quality of Flair vs. MVP. There was one terribly blown spot in Jericho vs. JBL when Jericho missed with a running face slam, but JBL sold it like the move had been perfectly executed. That got a rightful boo from the crowd. Mysterio vs. Edge should have been a great match, but it was sloppy as well. There was enough good action in the match to keep it out of the Miss column, but the sloppiness kept it out of the Hit column. Mysterio looked like he was off by a step or two. As good as Hardy vs. Orton was, Hardy was way off on his moonsault to the outside on Orton. Luckily, the camera missed the miss at first. WWE should have left well enough alone and not shown replays of how off Hardy was, and how ridiculous Orton looked for having to move at the last minute to barely get grazed by Hardy. There were too many sloppy moments during the show.

Finlay & Hornswoggle Elimination's: If the announcers had said that Finlay had been eliminated from the Rumble because he had jumped the gun early and entered before he was supposed to, I would have accepted his elimination. Instead, while mentioning that he came out early, they claimed that the was disqualified for using the shillelagh which makes no sense given the Rumble rules (you can only be eliminated by being thrown over the top rope with both feet touching the floor). Hornswoggle was not eliminated from the match! There was no explanation as to why he was eliminated. I’m assuming there will be a follow up on Raw with McMahon, but for now we are left with one guy being disqualified for a very stupid reason, and another who was never eliminated.

Cena Wins Rumble: Once Cena was announced as #30 in the Rumble, it was pretty obvious he was going to win. I was looking forward to seeing a WrestleMania Main Event that does not involve John Cena, but that is not going to happen now. I don’t want to say that Cena’s win creates stale options for WrestleMania’s Main Event, because Triple H winning would be the same thing. Really, Jeff Hardy would have created the freshest possible match ups. That being said, Cena vs. Orton was interrupted by Cena’s injury in October, so it makes sense to return for WrestleMania, but that doesn’t make it feel fresh and special.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hitlist Specialist, providing his point of view in the Torch's hitlist format for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

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